NYC Gas Rationing to Continue

New Jersey will end its system of rationing gas tomorrow, but New York City will continue policing fuel consumption for the time being.

“We’ll see,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a press conference earlier today. “It’s hard to measure, but it looks like there are a handful more gas stations open than there were yesterday and the day before. And anecdotal evidence is that lines are shorter, and hopefully that’s true.”

The rationing system, which restricts gasoline depending on whether a driver’s last licence plate number is odd or even, is based on the one New Jersey had implemented. Mr. Bloomberg said his administration would observe the situation across the Hudson River to help inform when they will again follow the Garden State’s lead.

“For the moment, we’re going to leave these in,” he said. “It will be interesting to see what happens in New Jersey. We can never get good numbers anyway, so it’s all going to be anecdotal. I see no harm in leaving it in for a while. If we could have taken it out, it’s not that much of an inconvenience; people have gotten used to it already.